Kassiopi pt2 Butterfly Heaven

Today we are going to the beach at Avlaki, which is about 20 mins walk in the opposite direction to the Village and it is hot already , i have my macro gear with me so while Jan goes swimming i can go on a butterfly hunt around the surrounding pond area.

Walking down the narrow roads the sides of the road are full of crickets and other insects , butterflies mainly meadow browns are everywhere.

 Our first view of Avlaki ...................  say no more :)

The grass is alive with grasshoppers and Crickets  , and i have just spotted beautifully coloured lizard.

              Newly emerged teneral Dragonfly , quite small , similar to the uks Black Darter in size.

                                  Best shot i could get of this Lizard , they are so fast   lol

 Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   my first Scarce Swallowtail image , i spotted one on the walk down here and a couple flying past but this one settled right in front of me .

                 The large pond is just behind the beach , i am walking around the scrub behind it.

                           There must be thousands of hoppers around here , they are perched on leaves and fern fronds everywhere i walk.   this one perched nicely for me .

 There are a couple of white butterflies just near the beach feeding ,   i have id them as Eastern Dappled Whites , but could be a similar species as they all look very similar.

       Its boiling hot here now ,   i can hear Cicadas chirping in the trees but cannot find or see one!

Another Dragonfly that actually perched in this hot bright sunshine ,  but since its raining back home i cant complain :)

            This Scarce Swallowtail flew past me fast , but eventually settled to briefly feed .

 I have been chasing Clouded Yellows all over the place, but they are just not resting   but this Painted Lady stopped for long enough to shoot this single frame .

                           There are quite a few Fritillaries , later id as Spotted Fritillaries

                                                                          Stunning colour!

There ai a wide variety of plants and flowers around this area , plenty of daisys but are not being visited by any butterflies.

                                                     A Small Copper perches in the sun

                          Not a clue on what this one is , very nice though .

At last i have managed to shoot one of the many Clouded Yellows ,  this one is quite pale.   there are also some much smaller ones again very pale in colour but i have not managed a picture yet.

Tiny Beeflies are buzzing loudly while feeding on these yellow flowers , a fast shutterspeed froze the action here .

             Another Clouded Yellow ,  this one was fairly slow and feeding constantly for ages .

                        Its too hot , i need a rest and go back to the beach to find Jan swimming

I have taken a walk around to the next beach down a track through the trees  , another stunning bay .

On the way back to the hotel  , i pause to shoot one of the many wild cats that seem to be all over the place .

Time to head down to the Harbour to find somewhere for dinner , the setting sun is lighting up Albania in the distance as we sit eating dinner

                             The castle is illuminated on the hill in front of the harbour.

          The resturant we have just left , its very quiet here as the season has bairly started and we got Free deserts :)

                                   The crowded main street on our way back to the hotel.

We have just seen our first Fireflies  YAY      i have tried to shoot a video , and can hear the Scopps Owl in the background,  bloody noisy things which kept us awake at night for hours!!

                 Phone pic of a firefly  about 1 cm in length , but the intensity of the light is amazing!

                                                     The end of another busy day in Corfu.

Grafton Wood in search of Butterflies and Bugs 20th aug 2012

It was now time to head off in search of my favourite butterfly , the Brown Hairstreak. it is later than i saw them last year and virtually no sightings had been reported at Grafton Wood in Worcestershire, but since it was going to be a nice day it had to be worth a trip as there are plenty of other things to shoot :)
arriving about 9.30am in the village of Grafton Flyford and parking by the church, i made my way through the farmyard and down to the wood.  the fields around the wood are mainly blackthorn, this is where the female Brown Hairstreaks will be seen.

Searching all the way along the only butterflies i have seen so far are meadow browns and this Gatekeeper.  not a sign of a hairstreak, but it is a little early for them, 11 - 2 pm best time so there was still a chance yet :)

continuing into the "orchard" area i first found a Large Horsefly perched on a fence post, i really love their eyes, so beautiful but deadly  lol  this portrait is shot with canon mpe-65 macro lens ,5 frames focus stacked to increase depth of field.i placed a green leaf behind to prevent a black background .

                   one of the many Meadow Browns feeding on a Teasel head , looking a bit tatty now !

after a good search though the orchard i have spotted a few migrant hawker dragonflies , and managed to get this image.  they have been a species that eluded me , often seeing them flying but never perching for a photo :)

I have decided to now walk through to the small pond just inside the wood ,near to the corner of the orchard , but suddenly spot a beautiful yellow crab spider waiting for a meal  , so on with the mpe again to shoot her :)      i cant hold a leaf behind to give background colour, so i shoot at higher iso ,  800 in this case,  to balance natural light with the flash preventing a complete black background.

after shooting her i walk down to the small pond , loads of migrant hawkers, common darters and a few ruddy darters are flying around but not perching!    also 3 hornets are hunting bees and i watch these for about half an hour, awesome to watch but they just don't settle for a pic unfortunately.  i do however find loads of Dark Bush Crickets , here is one image .

Time to look through the wood now, there is a central path right through the middle which i take , about half way along i turn left to go search for Brown Hairstreaks on the outer edge blackthorn.  i have always wondered why these two trees are out in the middle of this field?  strange

unfortunately no Hairstreaks are spotted , so back to the main path in the wood where i find in one very small area 6 newly emerged Brimstones .  i have never seen so many together before!

walking down the path there are loads of hoverflies and Bees feeding , a fox darts in front of me into the undergrowth! that's a pity, would have like a shot of one  lol    then while watching hovers i notice a bright blue flash!   it is one of the most beautiful flies there are , if you can call a fly beautiful haha  it is Phasia Hemiptera i very rarely see these , almost 2 years since i shot my last one so just have to get a shot this time.  luckily after a few moments i spot it feeding and get this single image  .

nearby there are more Dark Bush Crickets , and luckily i find this one perched on a single grass stem, superb perch for composition :)    this is my best image of the day!

down near the end of the main path is a large clump of flowers that in previous years male Brown Hairstreaks have been known to feed on , so i make my way to have a look.    unfortunately again no sign of any, but i did shoot this common darter dragonfly with long lens .

its been a long day of walking and searching , no sightings of my intended species but a good day none the less.  on the way back i shoot one of our most beautiful butterflies, the Peacock

                                                                   and a Small Copper

the end of another trip, i will be back in a week or 2 to hopefully see and photograph the Hairstreaks but it has been a good day.


                 all images shot with canon 5d2,100mmLmacro and Mpe-65 macro lens

A Review of 2011 Butterfly Adventures April - June

Since its the end of the year,  i think its a good time to post a review of all the species of uk butterfly i have shot this year.     these are just a few of the butterfly shots, they can all be viewed  HERE

So these are a few of my favourites :)    not necessarily the best!

starting off with a back lit Brimstone shot on the canal alongside whixall moss in Shropshire 17/4/11

       at whixall moss 22/4/11 i shot Speckled wood and one of my favourite species, the Green hairstreak!

Next to shoot was an Orange tip,  15/5/11,  shot in my back garden

on 19/5/11 at whixall moss i shot this green veined white on a dandylion seed head, it was quite windy and was very difficult to get a sharp image!

            And a head shot taken with mpe-65 macro lens and focus stacked to increase depth of field :)

                            25/5/11   at Rixton clay pits i found my first common blue of the year

  The first small copper was shot at whixall moss 31/5/11,  got really lucky shooting this!  they are normally quite skittish  but this one just sat on the stem which i was holding in my left hand while sheltering it from a brisk breeze!

In june , my fav Silver studded blue emerged in large numbers at Prees heath in Shropshire,  i will show a few of my best images from a couple of trips :)

                                                                            and a female

and while at prees , shot my first small heath and meadow brown :)

                                                                     and a large skipper!

That was the end of June,  the season really got going in July, with so many new species that i had not seen!

more in next blog :)

Phil

all images taken with canon 5d2 and 100mmL macro handheld.